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Celtic and Rangers colt teams set to play in SPFL as early as next season

Reps from all 10 League Two teams met with Celtic and Rangers’ development chiefs last weekend to discuss the two-year pilot scheme.

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by Gordon Waddell

06:00, 21 Jan 2018Updated14:01, 21 Jan 2018

(Image: Craig Williamson/SNS Group)

A plan to see two colt teams introduced to the SPFL could be in place as early as next season.

It’s understood reps from all 10 League Two teams met with Celtic and Rangers’ development chiefs Chris McCart and Craig Mulholland last weekend to discuss a two-year pilot scheme.

And although the move would require a vote and majority approval from all 42 league clubs, MailSport believes at least seven of the 10 who’ll be directly affected by the plan have given their encouragement.

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MailSport - who broke the news of the initial moves to broker a deal as part of Project Brave 13 months ago - has obtained a copy of the latest proposal aimed at kicking off in the 2018/19 season.

The plan involves a two-year trial period which would see League Two grow to a 12-team set-up but:

Neither team would be allowed to win promotion or be relegated during the pilot. If they finished top or bottom or in any of the play-off places, the senior team in the next place down would automatically take that spot.

Neither side would benefit financially from the distribution of funds to the league.

The colt teams involved in the pilot project will also guarantee the purchase of a minimum of 250 tickets for each of its away fixtures at £10 per ticket, giving each team, they claim, a £15,000 lift each season.

The full details of the fixture set-up with a 12-team division have yet to be decided. There is a favoured model of a 33-game schedule, although an alternative of creating a Premiership-style split and 38 games is an option.

There is also an offer for both colt teams to play all games away from home, although it's expected both would have to register full league-compliant grounds.

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MailSport revealed last June Celtic had already made moves to make Cappielow their home away from home if the plan ever made it off the drawing board.

Teams would have to name a squad at the start of the season - effectively an under-21 squad with two permanent overage players - and players would not be allowed to migrate from the parent club’s top team except in transfer windows.

League sources were keen to stress last night that the plan is not limited to Celtic and Rangers’ set-ups, despite the pair being front and centre of the bid to persuade clubs of its benefits.

It's also understood, however, that others who have expressed an interest previously - Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs - may be interested in the long term but aren’t ready to take up a place as early as the summer, paving the way for the two Glasgow clubs.

Aberdeen are among the teams also said to be considering the move

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An SPFL source said: “Historically there have always been objections to this but what we need to understand now is this isn’t the same debate we’re having - this is about development of our young players, it’s not about Rangers and Celtic leaving legacy teams behind as they seek to move on.

“So as this goes through the approval process, if it achieves support, other Premiership teams may yet want to be involved.”

MailSport understands the plan is to work their way up through the leagues with their discussions before calling an egm vote.

Any change would require the approval of 11 of the 12 Premiership clubs and 23 of the 30 (75 per cent) lower league clubs.

One League Two source who attended the meeting last weekend told us: “There were fewer objections than I’ve heard previously because Craig and Chris presented a strong case for why it would help in terms of the overall development strategy which Project Brave has been addressing. And it would be financially beneficial to a degree as well.

“But there are still a lot of questions to be answered, not least what would happen in year three. As usual with these things, we’re getting bits of the story but it would have been more helpful to hear it all and to have the SFA there as part of the discussion.

“The fact it was just Rangers and Celtic doesn’t help the perception that it’s the greater good being served, no matter how convincing the case they’re putting is.”